This is excellent stuff and really the way things should be going.
There was a fantastic proposal from Eidnhoven public library some 8 or so
years ago, developing a lot of wonderful new ways of promoting the stock,
new ways of searching etc. Unfortunately it did not get EU funding, but it
was one of the most imaginative schemes I have ever seen proposed.
Some of this that Steven has suggested really needs to get a proper airing
and support for a major initiative.
f
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Heywood" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: FW: Is this the end for OPACs?
> I agree with you completely, Peter. The scope for using enhanced content
> within catalogue records to make connections with all sorts of material on
> the web, including ways of using information that's already on the web to
> promote local stock, is immense and very exciting.
>
> I don't see that there's an either/or here, so long as we make sure that
the
> access to the OPAC functions isn't lost in the pursuit of all the other
> online functions we'd hope to make available. Given the fairly low limit
on
> the number of workstations many library buildings can physically hold and
> the demand for non-OPAC functions, this is going to be a challenge for
many
> of us.
>
> And I do worry about who's going to be available to do this sort of work.
I
> expect commercial considerations would make some publishers and suppliers
> move along the lines of providing enhanced catalogue records for the next
> Harry Potter -type sensation, though there'd still be scope for concerns
> about validation and consistency. Some national projects could, resources
> willing, provide a wider range and depth of catalogue record content, I
> hope. But there'd still be the need for local input, perhaps to flag up
> parochial material such as a link between a web site an a local history
> book, perhaps to make connections between resources that are only apparent
> or appropriate to a local community. The potential scope for using the
> combination of OPAC and internet to help the hard sell of our local
> resources *and* to provide a gateway to international information
resources
> tailored to the needs of local communities is really very exciting.
>
> Steven Heywood
> Systems Manager
> Rochdale Library Service
> Wheatsheaf Library
> Baillie Street
> Rochdale OL16 1JZ
> Tel: 01706 864967
> Fax: 01706 864992
>
> The story of the Hen-pecked Club
> http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/living/libraries.asp?url=DPhenpecked
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marshall, Peter [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 14 January 2004 12:47
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: FW: Is this the end for OPACs?
>
>
> I fear that some of today's contributions (though not all) on this subject
> have taken a very limited view of OPACs.
> Will any self-respecting OPAC of the future not give access to
> www.whichbook.net and (in London)
> www.londonlibraries.org.uk/will/ - and for that matter http://blpc.bl.uk/,
> www.m25lib.ac.uk/ or http://copac.ac.uk/copac/?
> Will catalogue entries not contain hyperlinks to authors' websites, or
> film-of-the-book websites like www.bloomsburymagazine.com/harrypotter and
> http://harrypotter.warnerbros.co.uk/home.html?
> Will information resources available over the web, like
> http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/Woodhouse/ to quote a particularly well
> digitised example, not be "catalogued" alongside their hard-copy
> equivalents, and why should you not be able to get these resources simply
to
> appear on the screen when you click in the right place, as opposed to
having
> to go to another "People's Network" terminal somewhere else in the library
> to look at them?
>
> I quite accept that there is a need for some terminals at all libraries
> which give access only to a very simple record of what items the Library
> Authority holds to enable quick enquiries to be made, but it would be a
> great mistake not to offer proper fully-functional web-enabled OPACs as
> well, which gives you the opportunity to explore fully what you can get
> through your local library, either on-line or via ILL.
>
> After all, isn't broadening people's horizons about what they can get from
> any public library what we are all about? About 20 years ago we moved from
> card/sheaf catalogues which just told you what was in stock at your local
> branch, to on-line versions which tell you what is in stock of the entire
> library authority or consortium. Is not telling you what is available in
the
> UK or on planet earth the next step?
>
> Peter Marshall
> Project Development Librarian
> Bexley Council
> Tel: 020 8309 4135 (Direct Line)
> email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
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